When creative duos go their own ways, the results can be different…

The pairing of Ethan and Joel Coen have brought us some of the greatest modern pieces of independent American cinema that we’ve seen in the modern age.  A few years ago this iconic duo decided to take a break from working together and dedicate time away from one another.  Joel adapted Shakespeare with his wife and arguably the greatest living actor of our modern times in Denzel Washington and now in his second feature, Ethan has made his second straight small town themed lesbian crime comedy… let that sit for a minute.

It’s a real portrait of one side of one brain of one of the more collectively adored storytelling duos of our time.

Thankfully though with Honey Don’t! Ethan and his wife and co-writer Tricia Cooke have made a tighter film with Cracker Jack B-Movie pulp pacing and some genuinely special performances that eclipse their efforts in last year’s Drive Away Dolls.

Honey Don’t! is a dark comedy about Honey O ’Donahue (Margaret Qualley), a small-town private investigator, who delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church.

This one works as well as it does because while Drive Away Dolls had more of an ensemble feel, this plays better quite simply thanks to two performances which drive the entire film and make them stand out from the pack.

Margaret Qualley shines here as she’s carving her own space as the young sarcastic sexpot who confidently struts across the screen in those click-clacking heels reminding the clueless Charlie Day on numerous occasions that she likes women.  The team of Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke have seemingly found their muse and the more we see Qualley on our screens the more we know that she belongs there in anything from a movie like this to a cameo in Happy Gilmore 2 and everything else in between.

On the other side of the acting coin, Chris Evans is gleefully chewing the scenery as the new age preacher/drug dealer/sex obsessed sleaze bag.  Coen and Cooke allow him to monologue to his heart’s content and its fun to watch as we get roped into this story of the debauchery that can live just underneath the surface in their small town.

The great Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day & Billy Eichner round out a solid ensemble in what is ultimately a better rounded and tighter affair then the afore mentioned Drive Away Dolls.

Rather than going for gags and set pieces; Honey Don’t allows us more opportunity to get wrapped up in the pulp driven narrative then this critic ever expected.

It’s not high art and quite frankly it was never really meant to be, but Honey Don’t is the cinematic equivalent of a trashy novella you find and read in some beachside motel that you are stuck in overnight while waiting to get your car fixed.  You won’t remember much of it about 5 minutes after you put it down, but you’ll remember you had fun with it….and sometimes that’s enough.